Other than the fact that there is a basket at each end of the court, the game barely resembles basketball as purists remember. The NBA allowed players to get away with so much the rules eventually changed themselves. It did not change the game for the better. Just as an example, Marco Polo didn’t travel as much as Michael Jordan.

“I heard John Wooden on radio once and the announcer asked him what he would change about the pro game,” Kojis says. “Wooden said, “Nothing.” The exasperated announcer said, “Jordan travels all the time; Shaq bounces people.” And Wooden said, “Nothing. I guess I would just use the rules that are there. You can’t do these things, but I understand it. If you make calls against the superstars you aren’t pleasing the fans.”

“I coach kids in school and they walk all the time. They tell me this is how it is. Ever see LeBron get a call for palming? I don’t know what constitutes a foul anymore. How do you adjust?”

Well, to the NBA of today, it just doesn’t matter. Maybe you saw last weekend’s All-Star Game. I saw snippets of matador defense. Not exactly the All-Star games Kojis played in.

“We played hard; I think it meant more then,” he says. “The coaches didn’t want us to get hurt, but we played hard. Now this. It was terrible.”

Blessed with three granddaughters who all live within 15 minutes of his home here, Kojis now calls himself a “professional baby sitter.”